Improvement in vote-counting apparatus



B. F. LARSH.

Vote-Counting Apparatus. N0 153 579 Patentedluly 28,1874.

j 96H2 9721 Z 0 98: I lt 9 'HE GRAPHIC CO. PHDTG 'L|TH.39& 4l PARKPLACEJIX UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN F. LARSH, OF EATON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND WIL- LIAMD.QUINN, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN VOTE-COUNTING APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 163,579, dated July 2B,1874; application tiled June 19, 1874.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. LARSH, of Eaton, Preble county, Ohio,have invented anew and useful Counting Apparatus, of which the followingis a specication:

This invention relates to that class of counting apparatus whichconsists, essentially, of a series of rotating disks or wheels whoseperipheries are numbered, so as to indicate any necessary combination offigures whenever said disks are properly manipulated by keys or otheractuating' devices; and my improvement is designed to render suchmachines especially applicable for use when ballots are being counted.

For this purpose I provide an operating-key and a primary and secondary'disk for each and every candidate, which key and disks are so arranged,with respect to one another, as that, as each candidates name is calledby the person engaged in counting the ballots, an attendant at theregister, by depressing the appropriate key, may cause the primary diskto rotate and expose a new figure for every such depression. As soon asthe primary disk has performed 011e complete revolution it thenautomatically rotates the secondary disk a single degree, and thecombination thus eii'ected can be continued until all the ballots havebeen counted, and the last combination thus indicated will correspondwith the number of Votes cast for each respective candidate. I alsoprovide two or more independent switches, one for all the candidates ofone of the parties, and the other switch or switches for all thecandidates of the opposing party or parties, and whenever a clean orunscratched ticket is announced by the election clerk the attendant ofthe counting apparatus depresses the proper switch, so as to force downall the keys and to simultaneously rotate the disks belonging to thecandidates whose party has just been called. p

Having tous brieily indicated the leading features of my invention, Iwill 110W proceed to give a detailed description of the same.

' In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of acounting apparatus em`- bodying my improvements, one of the switchesbeing shown in its normal or elevated position,

and the other switch represented as depressed. Fig. 2 is a verticalsection, from front to rear of the machine, in the plane of one of theprimary disks. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of one of the secondary disksin the act of being rotated by its primary, and Fig. 4 is a plan of acouple of detents and their accessories on an enlarged scale.

A represents an inclosingbox or housing, having a hinged lid, a, aconvex portion, B, and a horizontal platform or table, O, the latterbeing notched or perforated at c to admit the stems D of the keys l, 2,3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. The lower ends of stems D are piv oted tothe long arms of levers E, which latter are hinged, at f, to apartition, E, that extends longitudinally across the box beneath tableC, while the short arms of said levers carry feedhands G, which areconstantly pressed toward the shaft H by springs g. I are springs whichinstantly restore the keys 1 2 3, 8vo., to their normal or elevatedposition as soon as they are relieved from pressure. The shaft H, whichis a fixed one, extends transversely across the box A, and has looselyjournaled upon it ten primary disks, J, and the saine number ofsecondary disks, K. Each primary disk has secured to it an annulus, L,provided with ratchet-shaped teeth l, with which the feed-hand G of theappropriate key is adapted to engage. Projecting from the primary disk Jtoward its accompanying secondary, K, is a stud, j, which is adapted, atevery complete revolution of said primary J, to engage with one of theteeth of a sprocketwheel, M, the latter bein g journaled to a bearing,m, near the upper and rear side ofthe box A. Secured to this bearing mare plates N, whose tongues u n serve, respectively, as pawls or detentsfor the sprocket-wheel M and secondary disks K, said secondaries beingnotched at k to receive the tongues n. The secondary disks are providedwith pins O, which project toward the primary disks J, and said pins arearranged on a circle concentric with shaft H, as more clearly shown inFig. 3. The pins O and studs j must be situated at different radialdistances from shaft Hin order that neither ofthe devices O or j maycome in contact with one another when the disks are rotated. Theperipheries of all the disks are provided with numbers, as more clearlyshown in Fig. 4, and by referring to this illustration it will be seenthat the primaries are numbered from one to ninety-nine, while thesecondaries may have an equal or less series of numbers upon theirperipheries. R and S are switches, which are, respectively, pivoted tothe housing at r s, and which, the instant they are released, revert totheir normal position. This retraction of the switches is effected bythe agency of springs W, as shown at the left of Fig. 1. The switch R islong enough to rest upon the rst ive keys, l 2 3 4 5, while the otherswitch, S, is of the same length, so as to be capable of resting uponthe five remaining keys, 6 7 8 9 10. This arran gement is based upon thesupposition that the two opposing parties have each tive candidates inthe field; but in case a greater number are running it will then benecessary to employ a larger apparatus, so as to afford a separate keyfor each candidate. T is a window in the portion B of the box forobserving the combinations as rapidly as they are effected. U is a hook,and V a staple, for securing the lid a in its closed condition. A lockmay, however, be substituted for these retaining devices.

My counting apparatus is manipulated in the following manner: Theelection being over, and the ballots about to be counted, some one isappointed to attend upon the register, and as soon as a candidates nameis called the attendant immediately depresses the key corresponding withsaid candidates name, as shown at l in Figs. l and 2. The result of thisaction is to elevate the short arm of lever E, thereby causing thefeed-hand G to rotate the primary disk J the distance of one of theratchets I, after which the feed-hand, lever, and key are immediatelyrestored to their original position by the stress of spring I. Thispartial rotation of disk J exposes the numeral l on its periphery, so asto be plainly seen through the window T, it being understood that all ofthe disks are rst set so as to bring' their zero marks opposite saidwindow before the register is manipulated. As soon as anothercandidatels name is announced the attendant depresses a suitable key toindicate a ballot for him, and so on for every single name that iscalled; but for a clean or unscratched ticket the attendant has simplyto depress the appropriate switch, R or S, thereby simultaneouslyoperating all of the keys that represent the candidates of that party,as seen to the right of Fig. 1. This act will cause all of theappropriate primary and secondary disks to ro tate and allow theirindications to be read off. As soon as the attendant removes his fingerfrom the switch the conjoint stress of springs I and IV instantlyrestores said switch to its normal or erect position. After either ofthe primary disks J have made one entire revolu-v tion, thereby exposingthe numerals 79 at the window, the stud j then engages with the sprocketM, which latter rotates far enough to cause one of its teeth to meshwith the pins O of the secondary disk K. This engagement ofthe sprocketwith the pin O causes the secondary disk K to rotate a sufiicientdistance to expose the numeral l, which, in connection with the twozeros on the primary that have now been brought into view, indicate that011e hundred votes have been cast for the candidate. As soon as thevotes have been all counted, the last combinations upon the disks willindicate the ballots that have been cast for all the candidates,respectively, and, by comparing said combinations with the tallysheets,it will be apparent at once if any mistakes have been made in the count.

In order to facilitate the manipulation of the keys, and to prevent theliability of operating the wrong one, said keys may have the candidatesnames written on them, or else their names may be written or printed onslips of paper and pasted on the table C, in line with the appropriatestems D. The switches It and S may also have the names of the opposingparties applied to them.

In the drawings, a single primary disk and a single secondary disk areshown as arranged for recording the votes for each candidate, and thefour orders of numerals upon the peripheries of said disks will effectsufficient combination for use in villages, townships, and otherprecincts; but when employed for large cities a greater number of disksmay be provided for each candidate.

The position of the window through which the various combinations areread is suggested in Fig. 4 by the dotted lines, and it will be seen, byreferring to this illustration, that the two disks to the rightindicate, collectively, 1,534 votes, while the disks to the left showthat 4,300 ballots have been cast for the candidate represented by saiddisks.

I claim as my inventionl. In combination with the primary disks J j andsecondary disks K k O of a counting apparatus, together with theirdescribed or equivalent operating devices, two or more independentswitches, R S, for simultaneously operating a number of actuating-keys,in the manner herein described, and for the object stated.

2. In combination with the switches R S, the retracting-sprin gs W, forthe object stated.

In testimony of which invention I hereunto set my hand.

BENJAMI)T F. LARSH.

Attest:

GEO. II. KNIGHT, O. P. CAYLOR.

